Perfect Valor, a documentary narrated by former Republican senator and 2008 presidential candidate Fred Thompson and produced by David Bossie and his colleagues at Citizens United Productions recounts the stories of a select group of marines and their families during the United States’ successful campaign to wrest control of the Iraqi city of Fallujah from insurgents in 2004.

The film provides an intimate look at the trials and tribulations that these men and women endured during this difficult time, all the way from training on a production lot in San Diego to their re-adjustment to life at home, and illustrates their tremendous courage throughout.

In Perfect Valor, we are introduced to selfless heroes, such as Dr. Richard Jadick, a naval commander and field surgeon who actually had the option not to be deployed to Iraq, but chose to serve his country despite the fact that his wife was about to give birth. Four days after his child was born, Jadick left for Iraq, and after having to endure the difficulties of having to race from the outskirts of Fallujah to troops in need of attention in the field, Jadick decided to set up a med station in the middle of the city. The location was soon more than just a medical facility to our mean and women in uniform as many of them saw it as a place of comfort where they could find respite from the stress of war.

The film also tells the story of Staff Sergeant Jeremiah Workman, a Navy Cross recipient who lost many friends in a battle with insurgent fighters. After his return home, Workman and his wife very candidly discuss his battle with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and his attempted suicide, which was triggered by his own misplaced guilt over the death of his friends.

Jadick and Workman are just two of the amazing people we meet in Perfect Valor, and their stories and those of the others in the film are presented with an honest insight and a depth of humanity that is rarely appreciated in today’s world. Perfect Valor is deeply moving endeavor. This film provides a perspective that most of aren’t aware of, and of us who have only seen the war on television yet complain of “war fatigue” should set aside 90 minutes and watch it, because it might just give pause to such thoughts.

So OJ Simpson is guilty of this bullshit robbery charge. Good. Let the rioting ensue, and let it last through Obama’s defeat in November.

In way more important news, my review of American Carol is up over at Right Pundits. Friend Krista tells me that it wasn’t playing in Toronto. Color me shocked. I hope she got in the Jeep and drove to Buffalo to see it.

View the trailer here!

It opens on my birthday. I think they planned it that way.

My latest at LadyBlog, on the mangling of the latest incarnation of Luce’s The Women.

So very, very bad.

All Canadian taxpayers are. Isn’t that wild? This year, Canada is funding a queer child porn, via my tax dollars and yours. Thanks to Blazing Cat Fur for bringing this little business venture to my attention.

At this year’s InsideOut, Toronto’s Gay & Lesbian film fest that took place in May, a movie called “Babysitting Andy” was screened.

What do you do if you’re nine and nobody will tell you what ’fellatio’ means? When Andy’s uncle and his boyfriend arrive to babysit, she corners them with a Supersoaker and they can do nothing but comply.

Well, I’m going to contact cybertips.ca and turn myself in. I urge all Canadians to do the same. Turn yourselves in and take your lumps as child pornographers.

As an aside, when Ezra prints cartoons of Mohammad, that’s a hate crime. But when the government funds child pornography, that’s “art“.

I saw Hancock last night, and absolutely loved it. It definitely had a Götterdämmerung feeling about it which was both inspiring and a little sad. Wagner would have been impressed, if he could have gotten over the idea of his operatic Sigfried being played by a rapper!

That said, I would like to take director Peter Berg out to the parking lot behind the cinema and beat his ass to a pulp. Why? Because he is a television director who has been given a shot at movies, and thinks he will be taken more seriously if he uses fancy camera work that makes people vomit. As much as I was enjoying the movie, I had to keep my eyes closed for nearly half of it. Berg decided he would have more credibility if he got “arty” and made the camera spin and slant all over the place. Why is the necessary? Why do directors feel they have to actually nauseate their audiences in order to appear cutting edge?

Actor’s death means job losses for Vancouver film industry

The death of actor Heath Ledger is causing more cuts for Vancouver’s troubled film industry.

The 28-year-old, who was found dead in his New York apartment on Tuesday, was scheduled to be in Vancouver next week to work on his role as the lead in director Terry Gilliam’s British-Canadian co-production The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

Shooting had already begun in Britain, and Ledger was due in Vancouver on Monday to start filming scenes in front of a green screen, with special effects to be added later.

But with the production now suspended, crews at Bridge Studios in Burnaby, B.C., are facing an uncertain future.

Whoa. I mean, I really don’t give a flying fart for Ledger myself, but I’m sure as heck not going to blame him for a failing economy. A young man died - probably from an overdose, possibly at his own hand, we don’t know - and the CBC is doing Requiem for the Vancouver film industry? That is a seriously screwy set of priorities. For shame.

They’ve come up with a 9/11-style monster movie. Because I guess the reality - that a group of people living among us wants to kill us in the name of Allah - was too much to bear. Easier to blame it on Godzilla, I suppose.

For those of you who still have the nightmares (you know who you are, and you know what I’m talking about), don’t bother clicking the link. The flashbacks are a bitch.

I couldn’t watch the whole thing.

As I mentioned, I’m having a rough week. So this morning, lying in bed, I began listing my favorite comfort films from over the years. In no particular order, here they are.

Heathers - 1989
The Thing Called Love - 1993
Gone With the Wind - 1939
My Man Godfrey - 1936
That Hamilton Woman - 1941
A Shot in the Dark - 1964
Lady Sings the Blues - 1974
Pride of the Yankees - 1942
When Harry Met Sally - 1989
Dark Victory - 1939
Goodbye Again - 1961

a clever Persian girl figures out how to beguile a blood-thirsty misogynist Persian mullah who likes to bed virgins and execute them

Kate’s running a contest. Go over and put yours in the comments.